On Lawyer Advertising
We believe the epidemic of mass media advertising by lawyers is the most disappointing development our profession has ever suffered.
Not long ago, lawyer advertising was completely prohibited. Attorneys’ reputations, good or bad, quickly spread by word of mouth. When a specialist such as a civil trial lawyer was needed, an informal but efficient network for referrals among attorneys worked well to match clients with the best lawyers for the case.
Things have changed. Under protection of free speech, lawyers are plastering their names and faces on bus stops, billboards, refrigerator magnets, and even matchbook covers. Sadly, it is in the personal injury field, where clients have the deepest need for accurate, solid information, that junk advertisements have proliferated the most. The phone book is packed with full-page red-letter ads, complete with dollar signs, crashing cars, and photos of “satisfied clients” in cervical collars. On daytime television, the endless barrage of television lawyers between soap operas and game shows can truly add insult to a person’s injury.
The thought of a seriously injured person having to choose an attorney by comparing the yellow-page ad of one against the television commercial of another is repulsive to the most basic precepts of the attorney client relationship. We believe this relationship should be based on trust and information, not hype and high-pressure salesmanship.
Swope, Rodante P.A. does not aspire to represent every person who suffers a minor accident. There are plenty of lawyers for those cases.
Instead, we focus upon the serious, genuine, and important claims of people who have suffered catastrophic losses at the hands of the negligent or dishonest. The clientele we seek to represent find themselves, perhaps for the only time in their lives, badly needing competent, aggressive, and professional legal help. We expect that people with serious cases are as unhappy as we are with the gaudy, cheap, mass marketing of the television, billboard, and yellow-page lawyers.
You can see from our telephone book listing that we depend primarily on word of mouth– not advertising for our new clients. In fact, this website, is the closest thing to advertising you will ever see for the Swope, Rodante P.A. We hope that if you need legal help and are unsure where to turn, the information on this site will give you a meaningful choice.
Consistent with this philosophy, if you decide not to call for an appointment of for additional information, we will respect your privacy and will not contact you again about your case, in any form.
Naturally, we hope you will call and be introduced to our firm. If you do, we believe you will choose us, not based on some gimmick or jingle, but on a straightforward presentation of our credentials, experience, and performance history.
If nothing more, the information contained within our website will at least present you with a rational alternative to the bus-stop, billboard, and television lawyers who now seek to represent you in your important case.